This invention relates to a holder/handle attachment for use with a conventional paint bucket.
House paint is typically displayed and sold in cylindrical gallon buckets having wire loop handles attached on opposite sides of the buckets near the tops thereof to enable pivoting the wire loop handles up and over the tops of the buckets. Paint is sold in other size containers but those smaller than the gallon buckets typically do not include wire loop handles while those larger may include such handles but also frequently include a gripping element attached to the wire handle to provide a cushion for someone lifting the paint buckets. The gallon paint buckets also typically include an inwardly projecting lip formed at the upper edge of the bucket, with the lip defining a channel for receiving and holding a downwardly projecting lip of the bucket lid. The channel formed in the lip of the bucket also defines a groove on the underneath side of the lip between the bucket wall and the channel bottom.
Painters, both do-it-yourself and professional, oftentimes use paint directly from the gallon buckets by dipping the brush into the bucket to saturate the brush with paint and then removing the brush, to apply the paint to a surface being painted. The bucket may be placed on a support or held by the painter by grasping the wire loop handle. Of course, when held by the painter, the brush must be maneuvered between the painter's hand and the rim of the bucket when inserting the brush into the bucket interior, and then carefully removed to avoid getting paint on the painter's hand. Also, holding the bucket by hand for any length of time can be quite uncomfortable since the bucket's wire handle would tend to press into that part of the hand which is in contact with the wire handle.